What If
by Missionary Writer
Summary: Imagine beyond all sensations...what if...what if Emergency wasn't set in Los Angeles, California? And instead in a smaller town? What if Emergency wasn't set in the '70's era? What if it was set in this day and age? What would their lives be like if there were here?
1. Chapter 1

~ What If ~

By: HazelEyes51

DISCLAIMER: I do not own _Emergency_ or its characters; Hazel is my own creation and cannot be used without authorial permission. Also, no profit is made in these writings.

EMERGENCY!

Author Note: I wanted to do something different. I thought about taking these to the extreme and see how well this would go. I wondered one day what a fic would be like if these guys were living in our day and age, so I decided to take the idea, run with it and see where it goes. Now remember this is called what if, it doesn't basically mean it has ties to other stories of mine, it's basically a bunch of ideas I've thrown together in one story!

Brief bio: New Ulm, Minnesota is a good size town of about 14,000 people. The fire station is voluntary here, because we don't get many fires, calls, etc. But what would be the point of the title if it were the same? What if it wasn't? What then?

**EMERGENCY!**

Ellen Carter liked to have music playing in the background while the girls worked on their routines, this way they weren't listening to the patter of feet, thumping, thudding, creaking and many more noises that comes along with the equipment during their workouts. Gymnastics was suppose to be fun and she had at least ten girls under her care and she was keeping a watchful eye on all of them, especially little Hazel Stoker on the balance beam.

One of the youngest girls in her class, Coach Ellen would not deny the Stoker girl had talent, Hazel was a natural, but with the level this child was in the coach had seen many accidents happen to all of the girls, except Hazel…so far.

One or the other girl has broken a bone or sprained a joint, but nine-year-old Hazel has not. A bit small for her age Hazel has a keen sense of balance and she's so limber. A lot of the girls admire her and more than a few have commented that she's made out of bungee cords!

Standing now, on the high beam Hazel focused hard on her routine, a front arial, two backwards walkovers, a spin, jump slits twice, another spin, cartwheel, back flip, then Hazel did another spin, she skipped to almost the middle of the bar, from there she did a cartwheel that formed into a back handspring which launched her into the dismount.

She landed perfectly with arms up over her head and a smile on her face. Hazel skipped over towards the floor mats as Coach Ellen stopped her. "Nice job, Hazel."

"Thank you, Coach."

"Although, I noticed you're rushing yourself in your dismount. You need to slow that down, Hazel, you'll fall and hurt yourself, trust me I know." Coach Ellen was a lot younger for a head coach than most people would assume. She was about twenty-eight at the most. All the girls under Coach Ellen's instructions knew that their coach was a former, world-wide, well-known competitive gymnasts who had to end that dream sooner than expected because of a accident that could've been fatal from rushing herself too fast and pushing herself too hard.

That was probably another reason that Coach Ellen drilled her girls to stretch at least a half-hour to make sure they were all warmed up and limber to work on their routines.

"But I stuck the landing, Coach, isn't that all that matters?"

"Hazel," Coach Ellen placed a hand on the child's shoulder. "All the girls in my class are champs, but you must take it slow, you'll get where you want to go, but to reach your goal, you must…"

"I know, I know," Hazel heaved a sigh. "Birds learn to fly one step at a time, gymnasts reach their dreams one day at a time."

Coach Ellen smiled and patted her shoulder. "Take it easy, okay?"

Hazel nodded without meeting her coach's chocolate brown eyes and she walked over to the mats. Her best friend on the team was doing back flips across the length of the mats and she landed in front of Hazel with a back handspring, spun and posed for her friend, causing them both to giggle.

"Hey Zee, I saw you dismount. Great job in sticking the landing."

"Thanks." Hazel said and looked down, she played with the hem of her royal blue velour shorts, she wore a white "V" neck tee with blue binding at the sleeves and neck and it had the Turner Halle Gymnastic Program crest across the chest and her hair was up in a high ponytail.

"What's the matter?"

Hazel looked up at the girl's gray eyes. "Nothing," she quickly changed expression. "I can't wait to announce to my family tonight that I stuck the landing, they'll be so proud!" She said trying to sound excited.

Her friend wasn't really convinced, but she turned and the two of them were side-by-side, they read each other's minds and put their hands out. Hazel looked up at her friend and their eyes met. "So," stated the elder gymnast. "You ready to rock this crowd?"

"You bet." Hazel turned forward and they launched into the same routine. Afterwards, Hazel sat on the bench to pull on her shoes when a voice asked from behind, "how do you spell My Pumpkin Pie?"

Standing with a smile, the child spun and blurted. "Pi is 3.14159265!"

"Really?" An elderly gentlemen wearing jeans and button down shirt non-tucked in his pants, hands behind back asked with a mischievous smile and twinkle in his eyes. "Last time I checked it was spelt, H-A-Z-E-L."

"Oh Grandpa!" Hazel laughed.

"You ready to go, Pumpkin?"

"Yup, all set." Hazel grabbed her tie-dye print duffle bag and they headed out the door. At home Hazel felt a bit lonely, it was just her, her grandfather, Charles and their two-year-old golden retriever, Neo because her dad was working.

Hazel went upstairs after supper and sat at her desk to do her homework leftover from school that morning. Neo, the dog made himself comfy on his pillow by her closet next to her desk tucked in the left hand corner of her bedroom.

She sat at her desk staring at her history book, she was supposed to be reading about her subject, but she was loosing concentration. Giving up Hazel got up from her perch and stretched, and then she practiced her floor routine on the large shaggy green rug covering the hardwood floor in her bedroom.

The Stoker's lived in a one-and-a-half-story house that was decked outside in brick and siding. Most of the house was covered in hardwood and linoleum flooring, her dad's bedroom on the main level, the stairs leading to the finished basement and Charles' bedroom were the only carpeted areas of the house. And rugs didn't count.

Hazel had the larger room upstairs, in the right hand corner of the room, tucked in the corner was a handmade wooden half-loft bed with an attached ladder and hooks for hanging clothes, it was painted lavender as Hazel requested. A soft mattress with a purple fitted sheet, two plump pillows, a reversible quilt with solid purple on one side, star print on the other creates a cozy place to dream, and keeps her warm, especially during chilly Minnesota winters.

A handmade wooden desk painted spring green to match her shaggy rug was tucked in the left hand corner, a purple metal chair for her desk features an open scrolled back and green cushioned seat to go with the décor and color scheme. Hazel's window, overlooking Valley Street lets in the warm sun all day long, and closed up with one purple, one green curtain with allover butterfly print helped her butterfly nightlight shine at night.

Hazel's dad also said she was like a butterfly, small, skinny and light, but she was a free spirit, like a butterfly, which was a reason butterflies were her favorite along with stars, her dad said her personality shone like the stars in the nighttime sky, that's why her room was adorned with them and the purple and green were just two of Hazel's favorite colors!

After finishing her floor routine Hazel looked at the clock on the desk, 7:45. Her dad would be calling soon. Going over to the white shelf under her window with sections, light green and light purple fabric totes in every other section held her clothes, except for really nice outfits which were hung up in her closet and her shoes were stashed in there.

Hazel had a second closet in her room on the opposite wall of the window, but they kept extra blankets, sheets and pillows on the shelves and it was big enough to stuff in the two beanbag chairs that Hazel pulled out sometimes.

After putting jammies on Hazel pulled the elastic of out her hair and brushed her locks.

Right around the same time she was done straightening up her room her grandpa called upstairs. "Hazel! Telephone!"

"Coming!" Hazel flew downstairs and picked up the cordless phone. "Hello? Hi Dad! Great, and guess what? I stuck my landing on the beam today! I was trying to, but I couldn't keep concentration…I'll try more tomorrow…okay…love you too, Dad…goodnight." She handed the phone back to her grandpa.

It wasn't eight-thirty yet, but Hazel's dad called around then to say goodnight whenever he was on shift. Once Charles was done talking to his son though it was close enough and they headed upstairs to tuck Hazel in bed and who knows how, but Neo also ends up in bed with Hazel whenever her dad isn't home.

It's a pretty big jump for him, but he manages it somehow.

**EMERGENCY!**

"Broadway's busy for a Saturday morning." Johnny Gage commented.

"Tell me about it." His partner, Roy DeSoto added.

"Well, it's October and you know that when we have our festivals we track lots of tourist. Oktoberfest is right around the corner." Marco pointed out, and it was true, but some of them didn't really think that was the case; it was probably just because it was the weekend people were busy.

"Ain't that the truth, I ran into Wal-Mart for something one night during Bavarian Blast and I couldn't imagine all the people in the food section alone! It was crazy!" Chet Kelly added.

"What are you all doing tomorrow?" Stanley asked as he grabbed the coffee pot and poured a cup.

"Nothing."

"Same here."

"_Nada_."

"Don't really know."

"Can't remember."

His men answered.

"Y'all wanna come over for a grill out?" Hank knew it didn't hurt to ask. "Kevin can hook up the trailer to the four-wheeler and take the kids for a spin."

"My kids will like that." Roy said.

"My sister Rosa's in town, I'll see if she wants to come." Marco said.

"Can we bring a date?" Johnny asked.

"Sure." Hank responded; all eyes now fell on the silent engineer, leaning against the wall in the corner.

"Don't look at me, you guys know my daughter well enough now." Mike Stoker responded, he was right, his little girl was anything but girl; she was every inch a tomboy. But who could blame her for being that way while she grew up with her father and granddad?

When they clocked out that shift and went their separate ways Mike thought about the legacy of his life. After high school he went to college and that's where he met Emily, they both dropped out and married at twenty-three and twenty-one. Mike joined the fire academy and became engineer at twenty-five, in the same year they were blessed with the birth of a girl, yet grieved by the loss of Emily.

Despite the late start of his family Mike always dreamed of a houseful of kids someday, but they came to an immediate stop when his daughter was born premature. Thankfully she's alive and kicking, she's so strong-willed, stubborn, a lot like her father, but she has her mother's generosity for which Mike is thankful for.

When he arrived home Stoker was greeted at the door by the dog. "Okay, okay. Down, Napoleon!" No, the dog is not named after Napoleon Bonaparte.

"Dad!"

"Hey pal!" He lifted her into the air. "I missed ya, tiger." It was rare that he called her tiger, but when he did she always cracked a smile.

Hazel McKenzie Stoker is kind of small for her age, short of like a shrimp, she also very light which is surprising. She has a lot of her father's features, long brown hair that falls in loose waves/curls (that came from her mother), brilliant blue eyes, very light freckles dusted her nose and under her eyes, she has her mother's dimple in her cheek and her father's smile. The rest of her…is all Stoker!

"I missed ya too, Dad."

Mike set her down and she followed him into the kitchen, he sat his duffle bag down on the table and looked around. "Ohh, I see somebody was in the middle of school."

"I just finished a spelling test when you walked in the door. I got an A+, but I didn't do too good on math today." She said.

"You didn't?" Mike asked.

Hazel shook her head. "Nope, I got a B."

"Well, that's still not bad, but you need to stop daydreaming about gymnastics when it's school time." Mike slipped his tennis shoes off and then headed into his room. Hazel put her school stuff away and waited for her dad to come back out.

"Yesterday was Friday," she said.

"Yeah, what about it?" Mike reached into the cupboard for a glass, then filled it with the water compartment on the freezer door of their side-by-side stainless steel refrigerator, Hazel climbed into one of the spindle backed bar stools at the bar counter.

"It was homeschool group day, we went to Harman Park." Hazel said. "Miss Nika said something about History Fest and during the winter she said they get together seldom at Lincoln Park, the kids can ice skate and play outside and the moms sit in the warming house with the younger kids, but she also said once and awhile they come to the hill here on 7th and German and sled!"

"I got the email about History Fest, I think we'll go, it sounds interesting."

"Saa-weet!" Hazel exclaimed as she climbed down and went downstairs, with Neo following her. Charles came in through the sliding glass door leading onto the deck out back.

"Oh, you are home."

"Hey Dad." Mike put his glass in the sink and looked at his father. "What's up?"

"Nothing much." Charles Stoker looked and sounded a lot like the actor Kris Kristofferson, his hair was graying along with his well-trimmed goatee. Both Charles and Mike were widowers, after Grace, Mike's mother died Charles moved in with his youngest son, when Emily passed Mike and Charles were almost two widower bachelors because they nearly lost little preemie Hazel.

They got involved with a cooperation called March of Dimes or March for Babies which was established in 1970, every year since Hazel was born they took part in the yearly 3.7 mile (just an estimated distance) walk. One year, the guys from the station walked with them and Johnny took picture before, during and after the walk, as well as at the potluck the women hosted back at the Stokers.

"Okay," Mike nodded. "Cap invited us over for a grill-out tomorrow, I know Hazel will like to go because Kevin's gonna take them for a spin on the four-wheeler."

"Okay, should we take something?"

"I was thinking about the world famous SSS." Mike said.

Charles smiled. "Stoker Spaghetti Special won't be complete without Hazel Stoker's delicious meatballs."

"No, it wouldn't." Mike played along with his dad, "plus, she makes really good Oreo Cookie Salad too."

"Yeah. Yeah, she does!" They laughed and the day went by like so.

After supper they played a game of Stumped to determine who gets dishes. The inventor of the game lost and loaded up the dishwasher and washed what didn't fit as the two victors played some more card games.

Then since nothing else was planned they put pajamas on early and sat down to watch a family favorite; _Remember The Titans_, it was a movie set in 1970 when a school combined whites and blacks together and both races played football and how strong their brotherhood was showed people it didn't matter what color their skin was. In the end of the movie, one of the players involved in an accident died. Hazel liked it because it was funny and action-filled.

"Nine o'clock pal, it's past bedtime." Mike patted her leg, she stood and looked at him, "I'm coming." He could read what she was asking in her eyes. He stood and threw her over his shoulders in the fireman's carry, upstairs in her room he threw her into bed, Hazel laughing all the way, then he covered her up, they prayed and it was light's out!

**EMERGENCY!**

A/N: Stumped is a card game I created, it's where you take out the ten of diamonds and deal out all cards, you start making matches and the person with the ten of hearts got stumped! You could switch it up and take out ten of clubs, aces or hearts. We don't play with jokers though, so…just improvise!


	2. Chapter 2

~ What If ~

By: HazelEyes51

DISCLAIMER: I do not own _Emergency_ or its characters; Hazel is my own creation and cannot be used without authorial permission. Also, no profit is made in these writings.

EMERGENCY!

Author Note: I forgot to add a note about Christianity belief being expressed in this story every now and then, no hard feelings please! I'm sorry for not including it sooner!

**EMERGENCY!**

The hum of the four-wheeler motor was faintly heard along with the giggle and laughter of kids. The laughingly chatter of the women sounded through the glass sliding door that led into the kitchen and gruff, loud male voices boomed on the deck.

So far the Sunday grill-out was going along fine.

"Okay," Hank announced as he closed the grill lid from flipping the food, the smoky aroma filled the air and made their mouths water and stomachs growl even more. "Y'all ready for our shift tomorrow?"

"Hey Cap," Chet spoke up. "What's with the whole southern accent all of a sudden?"

Hank shrugged. "Don't know, Kelly."

"Hank, are those burgers and whinnies almost done?" Elsie asked through the door slightly cracked.

"Just a couple more minutes, dear."

"Good, will you call the kids, too, please?"

"On it." He responded, walked up to the edge of the deck, cupped his hands to his mouth and whistled. The roar of the four-wheeler grew louder as it approached from the tree line and came riding up to the house.

"Yeah, Dad?" Kevin asked.

"Lunch."

"Okay." He killed the engine and they unloaded from the ride, filed up the stairs and into the house to wash hands.

Hank turned off the grill and transferred the burgers and hot dogs onto a platter and the men stepped inside too. "Alright, here we go…now before you all started digging in and running off, let's have Mike bless the food."

They all knew and respected the Stoker's Christianity belief, even if some of them were not religious. Mike was a bit surprised at Hank's statement, but then he smiled slightly and they all bowed their heads for the prayer.

"Father God, we thank You for this day and for this time to gather with friends. We ask You to bless this food to our bodies that it'll be healthy and nourishing to us, in Jesus' name, Amen."

Everyone followed with an "amen" then the adults helped the smaller kids get some food, they all sat at the table and then the adults went through the food line and made themselves comfy in living room.

"So where's Charles today, Mike?" Roy asked.

"Home." Came the response from the normally quiet engineer. "We sorta hung out yesterday and a friend of Dad's went goose hunting, he brought us a couple birds this morning, so Dad said he'd stay home and clean them."

"I can already imagine what you'll be eating the next couple of days." Hank said.

Mike nodded and wiped his hands on a napkin.

"Hey Cap," Gage broke into the discussion. "You should've been with us one day, my friend was lending me his boat and I asked Mike and Charles along for a fishing trip, Hazel wanted to come with too, but she freaked when we started catching fish, she wanted out of that boat right then and there."

"I'm glad I wasn't there." Said Hank, he hated fish to the ends of the earth.

"But the best part was once we got her calmed down she looked us dead in the eye and proclaimed 'I will not look at fish, I will not eat fish, I will not go in water with them nor anywhere near them. I hate fish to death!'" Johnny said with a smile.

"That's one thing we have in common then." Hank smiled.

"Who made the hot dish with meatballs? It's good." Marco commented.

"Dad did! I made the meatballs!" Hazel said from the kitchen.

"Taste like the world's famous SSS." Joanne added before she took a bite of hot dish.

"Hank, after lunch, maybe we could set up the Sticks 'N Cups game." Elsie offered.

"The what?" Chet asked.

"Sticks 'N Cups." Mike put in his two cents. "You set up these two sticks each 15 inches apart and they say forty feet away, but we…pal, how many cartwheel could you do between the posts of the Frisbee game at Uncle Matt's?"

"I did back flips and it was five! Otherwise Uncle Matt counted…25 paces I think." Hazel responded.

"Okay! And then you place a plastic cup on the top of each six-foot long stick, you have two people on a team and two teams, the teams stand behind each set of sticks. You take turns throwing and your goal is to dislodge the cup without the other team catching it and it's a point for the throwing team if the cup hits the ground, or a point for the other team if they catch it. Eleven points wins the game, you get two points if the Frisbee goes between the sticks clean, without touching either stick or cups." Mike said.

"Yeah, there's probably more to the rules, but this is the basics." Hank said.

"It's really fun." Johnny's date, Amy Sowers added. "My dad's family does a camping trip once a year for reunions and we played that last year. Also the game with the golf balls on the strings and horseshoes."

"Hey Cap!" Marco spoke up. "We never went camping this year! We should before the snow sets in."

"I heard the weather man say we should get a few weeks of Indian summer yet here this month." Rosa added, she had a heavier Spanish accent than her brother and she was younger by three years, but very beautiful in her own way.

After lunch the kids went back on the four-wheeler and the adults sat up Sticks 'N Cups. Hank and Elsie teamed up against Marco and Mike since the four of them were accustomed to it and they explained more as they showed the others.

Amy and Johnny already were planning to team up against Chet and Rosa. Roy and Joanne would be the cheering audience for them all.

"Here, it's your turn." Hank handed the Frisbee to Elsie.

"Okay." She aimed and then tossed a nice straight fly, right towards…the stick wobbled back and forth and the cup flew and did flips in the air.

"Get it, Mike!" Marco said.

It was one hand juggle for five seconds before the cup gave up and allowed Mike to hold it in his hand.

"Ohh, that's a point for them." Elsie said.

"Great catch, Stoker!" Amy applauded.

"It's your disc." Mike said to Marco as he replaced the cup on the stick.

An hour passed by and Hazel came running over. "Hey Dad, who's winning?" She asked glancing at Amy and Johnny then at Chet and Rosa.

"So far Gage and Miss Sowers. She's really good at this game."

"Can you and I team up against the winning team?" She asked looking up at him.

"Maybe you could ask DeSoto or the Missus if they want to, Cap asked me to play horseshoes with him and Mrs. Stanley to team up against Marco, Jade and Lana." Mike said.

"Okay." Hazel skipped over towards Roy as Mike headed to the others. "Roy, do you wanna team up with me against the winning team next round, please?" She asked, Hazel wore a brown short-sleeved tee with contrasted magenta long-sleeves for the layered look, on the front it had a monkey and said, "Ready to monkey around?" She wore straight leg denim jeans and two-tones tennis shoes and her hair was in two French braids.

"We'll see, okay?"

"Okay." She sat down in the grass to watch and she was cheering for Amy because the twenty-seven-year-old was doing really well. "Doing good, Amy!"

"Thanks missy!" The woman called back.

Rosa threw the disc and hit the stick in front of Johnny and he missed the cup. "That's a point for us."

"What's the matter, Gage?" Chet teased. "Can't play this game with a beer in your hand?"

"Hey, that makes it even more fun." Amy said. "My dad's side of the family has a rule we added where you _have_ to have something in one of your hands."

"Do you get extra credit if you catch the cup?" Johnny asked.

"No."

"Oh," he shrugged and put the cup back on the stick.

"You ever come camping when my dad's side is together, beware, they like their competitions and they are very, very, very competitive." Amy said.

The game continued on, Amy and Johnny won, Chet and Rosa lost, Hazel asked Roy again if he wanted to play, be Johnny and Amy decided to take a break so Hazel went skipping over to where her dad was playing horseshoes with Cap and his wife. Stanley's oldest daughters Jade and Lana were teamed up with Marco on the other side.

"Who's winning?" She asked.

"We are." Elsie said.

Hazel turned to watch, Jade was holding up a horseshoe, aiming, she threw and the metal object flew and it hit the wood. "Oh!" She groaned with the stamp of a foot. "That's the third time I've hit the wood!"

"Watch and learn." Lana said; she didn't even make it anywhere close to the peg. Marco hit the stake in the ground and the ear piercing _diiinnng!_ of metal on metal sort of hurt Hazel's ears and she turned, walked away and saw Chris DeSoto, John and Kevin were on the trampoline playing Don't Break The Egg with Meghan as the egg.

Julie and Emma DeSoto were playing with Barbies in the shade that the deck offered underneath. Ana was sitting all by herself. "Hey Zee."

"Hey Ana, what's up?"

"Nothing much, I'm board."

"Same here." Hazel lowered herself on her knees.

"Didya know I started gymnastics earlier this school year?" The girl asked, she had her mom unruly curls, her hair went to underarms when dry, but wet her tresses stretched down to the middle of her back, like Hazel's hair, but Ana had very pretty natural curls. She had her dad's brown eyes, Kevin's smile that was a bit higher on the right and seemed to light up her eyes.

"No." Hazel shook her head. "How much do you know?"

"I'm just learning cartwheel and round-offs?" She wasn't sure if that was the right word.

"Yup, round-offs, it basically the same only you land on both feet at the same time."

Ana sighed, "I sure could use some practice."

"Let's do some now." Hazel suggested.

"Can we do them in jeans?" The younger girl asked.

"I have."

"What about stretching?"

"Which place do you go to?" Hazel asked. "NUAGA or Turner Halle?"

"NUAGA." Ana answered tucking some curls behind her ear when the wind blew them across her faces.

"Okay, I go to Turner Halle 'cause it's closer to our place and I like it better than NUAGA, plus you have practice Monday, Wednesday and Friday every week! But I stretch everyday to stay limber, so I don't really need to worry too much about hurting myself."

"We could stretch if you want, but I don't really think we have to." Hazel concluded the final thought.

"We should just to be safe," Said Ana and she switched from her cross-legged position to having her legs out in front of her and she reached for her toes. Hazel did the same and she was able to lie all the way down, resting her head on her knees. "Gosh, Zee! You're like made of bungee cords!"

"Everybody tells me that." Hazel said sitting up, she jumped to her feet and slid into the splits, "I can't down the side splits in jeans; I've tried."

"I can't go all the way down like you." Ana went as far as she could. "See?"

"That's still pretty good." Hazel said. "Watch this." She leaned all the way forward again and did the same thing, only lacing her fingers together around the bottom of her foot, then she sat back up and reversed the motion, lacing her fingers together around the bottom of her other foot.

"No way." Ana gaped, "do you have bones or what?"

Hazel sat up and shrugged. "It doesn't hurt, even my dad thinks I'm made of bungee cords." They laughed and for fifteen minutes non-stop Hazel did the best she could to spot for Ana as she helped her practice cartwheels and round-offs.

Doing a cartwheel and then a round-off Ana shook her head at the elder, more experienced gymnasts. "I'll never be as good as you, I just can't get it!"

"Don't worry," Hazel put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "You're doing better than I was at your age, I kept falling on my butt, I never thought I'd be as good as I am, it just takes practice."

"Thanks Zee, I'm going to get some water, want some?"

"Nah, I'm gonna go see what everyone else is doing."

"Okay." They parted ways and just because she felt like it Hazel did cartwheels over to the trampoline, Kevin was the egg and he didn't last two bounces and he cracked! Then reversing into two backwards walkovers and a cartwheel into a back flip she landed by the horseshoe pit to find Hank and Elsie were playing against Roy and Joanne, both men had a beer in their hand and woman each had a can of pop.

Turning cartwheels across the yard was fun so Hazel turned cartwheels to where Amy and Johnny were teamed up against Jade and Lana, playing Sticks 'N Cups. "Hey pal, what's up?" Mike asked.

"Nothing." She answered.

"Hey, I don't think we have the poles spaced right." Jade said. "Aren't they supposed to be farther apart?"

"I can do five somersaults between poles before they're the right distance." Lana offered.

"What about back flips?" Hazel asked.

"Those I can't do." The fourteen-year-old said.

"I can. Watch." Hazel started where Johnny and Amy were, she did a string of back flips to the other end, she was standing next to Lana and Jade's end and did one more. "This is five right here."

"Let's double check, Lana, do you somersaults and see if you land by Hazel." Jade said.

"Okay." The girl did and she did land by Hazel. "Yup, they're two close together."

"That's…" Mike paused and walked the distance. "Thirty paces, not twenty-five."

"Let's fix it and get the game underway!" Johnny said.

Everyone hung out all day playing games, taking breaks and sitting around talking, they had so much food leftover from lunch they brought it all back out and they ate again for supper, then the kids went downstairs to play since it was getting darker out and the adults hung out in the den upstairs, talking and laughing.

"That wasn't the worst part yet!" Amy said when everyone broke into laughter about a story she told from a camping experience. "After we fished my cell phone out of the water, I was walking back to camp slowly, trying to figure out how I'd tell my mom and I dropped it on the pavement!"

"Oh dear." Rosa said.

"She was less than mad…she was furious. I didn't get another cell phone until I was eighteen and had a job to pay for it myself." Amy finished her story. "I ended up with the same one, but a newer and improved model, so they claimed, it looks the same to me."

"I have a Blackberry from Verizon." Marco said.

"Mine's from AT&T and it slides up to revel the keys." Chet said.

"I have T-Mobile and it's this kind." Johnny pulled out a red phone, turned it to the side and slid it open to revel the texting keyboard.

"No way," Amy pulled out a silver one just like his and slid it open. "We have the same model."

"What a coincidence," Chet teased.

"I have just a plain old flip-phone with Comcast, our service." Hank said.

"Same here, only we have NuTelecom." Mike checked the time on his flip-phone and whistled. "Seven-thirty, she's a late one tonight."

"Yeah, we should probably get going, huh?" Joanne said to Roy who was playing with his Blackberry.

"Uh-huh, I was just checking the radar, looks like we have some rain coming." Roy said getting up, he went downstairs and Joanne and Elsie went to the kitchen.

"We should go too." Marco said to Rosa, they stood and prepared to leave, they just exited the door when Roy returned with Chris and Julie, Joanne met them at the door and they bid farewell, it didn't take long before Johnny and Amy left and Chet was getting ready to leave as well.

Mike was thinking about it when Hazel came upstairs and crawled into his lap. "I'm tired." She said.

"I'll bet; it's been a long day." He tugged on her braids and she laid her head on his shoulder, he smiled and patted her hind end. "Get up, pal. We'll gather up our stuff and head home, okay?"

"Okay, she went downstairs to say good-bye and then they left the same time Chet did. Mike and Hazel arrived home right around 8:30 and carrying Hazel in one arm with the empty bowls in the other he set the bowls on the counter and took her upstairs to her room, pulled her shoes off threw her in bed.

**EMERGENCY!**

A/N: NUAGA stands for New Ulm Area Gymnastics Academy and then there's also Turner Halle Gymnastics Program.


	3. Chapter 3

~ What If ~

By: HazelEyes51

DISCLAIMER: I do not own _Emergency_ or its characters; Hazel is my own creation and cannot be used without authorial permission. Also, no profit is made in these writings.

EMERGENCY!

"Hey Mike, you wanna help us pull a prank on Chet?" Marco asked. Mike looked at him then at Johnny.

"No thanks, when you guys get into it, I prefer to stay outta it."

"It's not just us, Roy and Cap are in on it too." Johnny said.

Mike reviewed the history, though the day was still quite young already Cap nearly died of a heart-attack when carnival snakes flew from the desk draw he opened, Johnny had gotten hit with two Phantom bombers, poor Roy came around the corner and was greeted with an air horn, Marco got pied in the face and Mike was doing a routine equipment check when he threw open a compartment to had Chet laying inside scare the living daylights out of him!

Maybe it was about time the Phantom got his payback. "Okay," he said. "I'm in."

"Great, now here's the plan…" Marco said. And told him every detail of their plot.

To Mike it actually sounded like a really nifty idea. He and Johnny were each standing on either side of the fire pole with five gallon buckets full of ice cold water, they were waiting for Marco's signal over the toy walkie-talkie.

Down in the bay, Chet just finished wiping down the trucks like Cap instructed him, he moved over to the fire pole and began wiping it down, Stoker and Gage heard Lopez's order of the HT and they dumped their buckets, ten gallons of ice cold water plummeted down and splashed on top of Chet Kelly!

Roy went walking by, coffee cup in one hand, mop in the other, he handed the cleaning tool to Chet while hiding his smile with a sip of coffee and continued walking, he passed through the entryway and up the stairs that led to the dayroom/kitchen area were Mike and Johnny were laughing about the prank.

"That's gotta be the bitter taste of his own medicine!" Mike said.

"Chet has a fire hot temper, this outta be a good way to cool him down!" Johnny added.

Stanley came walking in from the hallway where the dorm and fitness rooms were, on the main floor were offices and locker rooms and a smaller, skinnier staircase in which he must've climbed for there were no elevators in this fire station.

"Did we succeed?" He asked looking up from his paperwork.

"Oh we succeeded alright Cap, we succeeded." Roy confirmed.

"Chet may haft to change uniforms, but we achieved." Mike said.

"Good." Stanley grabbed a cup of coffee and then left for his office again.

**EMERGENCY!**

Coach Ellen was standing by the uneven bars watching one of her students go through her routine when out of the corner of her eye she saw one of the girls land on her butt and frustrated the child smacked the mats with her palm as she got up.

Going over to the balance beams she smiled as she recognized the long ponytail of gentle curls of Hazel Stoker. "Hazel, you doing okay over here?" She asked.

Hazel turned to face her and she looked worried. "I can't do it, coach, I keep falling on the dismount."

"Do you wanna try the dismount on the lower beam?" Coach Ellen offered.

"No, I'll give it another try."

"Okay, take it easy, Hazel and remember not to rush yourself into the dismount."

"I know." Hazel nodded.

Coach Ellen went on to see how other girls were progressing and Hazel landed on her rear again! She sighed and she stood and met up with her best friend by the vaulting horse. "Hey Josie."

"Hi Zee, why the long face?"

"I keep landing on my bottom in my dismount. I can't seem to land it right and it's only two weeks until the regional qualifying meet, if I don't make it this time, what are my chances next year?"

"Hazel, have you forgotten what Coach Ellen tells us all the time?" Josie asked, her slick black hair in a high ponytail swished as she talked. "Birds learn to fly one step at a time, gymnastics reach their dreams one day at a time."

"I know, Josie. I wanna achieve my goals and giving up is something you hear in my family so I'm not going to quit, but I'm worried. I'm not sure what my dad will say if I fail at the qualifying meet, he might be disappointed." Hazel really looked worried, this is the way she was all the time at gym, she was under a lot of stress to achieve perfection and she was terrified that if she failed her dad would be so mad at her.

"Hazel," Josie placed hands on her shoulders. "It's okay, you're a champion, and I'm sure in your dad's eyes you're the best gymnast in the world!"

"I hope you're right." Hazel said and looked down.

"Hey! Josie and Hazel!" Coach Ellen called.

"Uh-oh, we're in trouble." Josie said and they ran over to where their coached was standing with hands on her hips.

"Aren't you two supposed to be practicing your routines?"

"Yes, sorry coach." Hazel answered.

With a gleam in her eyes and trying to suppress a smile Coach Ellen pointed. "Last one to the top of the ropes stays behind to help clean up." She asked one of the girls to stay and clean up most times and she sometimes used the ropes for a punishment, but she also said it was the best gymnastic piece of equipment to build mussels.

"Beat you to the top." Josie said and took off towards the ropes.

"Oh no you won't!" Hazel skipped over to the ropes and though Josie was already three feet off the ground Hazel could scrambled to the top of that rope in no time, in ten seconds she made it to the top where the linoleum wooden wall ended and the rafters began, Josie reached the same level five seconds later.

"How can you do that…so…good?" Josie panted.

Hazel shrugged, loosened her grip on the rope and slid almost all the way to the bottom, Josie sighed and began to climb back down.

"Good job, Hazel." Coach Ellen said.

"Thank you,"

"I look forward to your help after practice."

"But you said _last_ one to the top." Hazel said.

"Oops, I meant _first _one stays behind." Coach Ellen smiled.

Hazel laughed and shook her head. "Oh coach, you're funny!"

Practice continued on and Hazel kept trying to land her dismount and she kept landing on her bum every single time. She talked to her coach about it and Coach Ellen gave her some experienced tips and Hazel recited them as they cleaned up the gymnasium after practice and she made a mental note to try them at home.

But at home a mound of history homework was waiting for Hazel, after a small snack of three Oreos and a mixed berry smoothie Hazel was sitting her room, reading through her homework. But like the last time, non of it seemed to make sense and Hazel couldn't keep her concentration, this seemed to be happening too often lately and there had to be an explanation for this.

Instead of getting her homework done, she did stretches and visualized her routine and went through it.

"Hazel? What are you doing up there, Pumpkin?" Charles called.

"Just practicing my routine, Grandpa!"

"Sounds like you befriended a heard of elephants!"

"Sorry!" Hazel called back; she turned around and looked around her room. "Whoa, I didn't know I was falling behind here." She stopped practice and began cleaning up her room.

**EMERGENCY!**

"Are you sure you know how to get there?" Hazel asked for the millionth time since they left the house five minutes ago.

"Hazel McKenzie! Shush!" Mike said. "I've told you before, everyone is meeting in Hy-Vee's parking lot and we're following each other to History Fest."

"I wish Grandpa would've come, he would have fun with us."

"Just because Grandpa lives with us doesn't mean his disable or anything, he can do what he wants, he's a grown man."

"I know." Hazel turned to look out the window, "can we listen to the radio?"

"I think that CD that Sara gave us is still in the player." Mike said. His sister had made a bunch of praise and worship CDs and gave them to him and they're older brother Matt and Hazel loved them. In Hy-Vee's parking lot it wasn't hard to find out where the homeschool families were meeting, in vacant part of the lot Gina Rysdahl's red Pontiac Montana and Tina Hagen's light blue Ford Windstar vans were parked and they were standing in front of them talking.

Mike pulled his blue Chevrolet 1500 4X4 truck into a parking stall and killed the engine. "Stay in here, I'm gonna find out what the deal is here, okay?"

"Okay." Hazel nodded.

He got out and walked over to the moms talking. "Hello Mr. Stoker, we were glad you could make it today!" Miss Gina said.

"Thank you, but Mr. Stoker is my father."

"Is your father with today?" Miss Tina asked, she was one of the mom Mike instantly liked in the homeschool group, she and her daughter's Anna and Emmy were always wearing skirts and dresses which was awesome. Mike remembered Emily wore skirts 90% of time and wished he could get Hazel to wear them more, but it was rare that she would put one on by herself!

Hazel was every inch a tomboy and Mike had grown to accept that, though he wished it would be nice if she would sometimes be a girly-girl, but he couldn't change her and he loved her no matter what anyways.

"No, he isn't." Mike said then looked at Miss Gina again. "So, how do we get to this here History Fest place?"

"Just follow us, we're all going together, I'll be leading and I've printed out directions that are pretty simple." She answered.

Mike nodded. More families arrived, he noticed that though it was a Friday he was the only dad going, and for two reasons. A, he was the only parent Hazel had, b, he was off duty till Sunday when his shift would rotate again.

A total of the families were the Sowers (not related to Amy), the Kavans, Composes and a family riding with them, the Millers, Beolters, Hagens, Rysdahls and Stokers. They all talked a few minutes, and then they loaded up in their vehicles and headed to this farm that History Fest was held on every year.

When they got there, they decided to meet near the parking area for lunch at eleven when they would shut the Civil War cannon and fling the pumpkin catapult, they all had maps of the place and they sorta went their separate ways, the Millers hung around with the Stokers, they were the only two new families in the homeschool group and were not accustom to some of the activities.

"Hey Dad, look, stilts!" Hazel said.

"Oh yeah, I remember playing with these as a kid."

"Can we try them?"

"Everything here is hands-on." A volunteer actor said. "Give it a try." Hazel, Lucas and LeAnn Miller tried them and Hazel stayed up the longest.

"Maybe gymnastics pays off for something." Mike commented when Hazel fell down.

"That was fun!" She giggled.

"You're in gymnastics?" LeAnn asked.

Hazel nodded.

"That's cool!"

"So is this." Hazel did four back flips in one place all in a row.

"Whoa-ho!" Lucas and LeAnn exclaimed together.

"Okay, let's keep going." Mike said. They had circled through the whole place trying everything that interested them and then there was something the kids found that they wanted to try.

"Ooh, let's try the tunnel!" Hazel said.

"It looks dark." LeAnn said.

"That doesn't bother me." Hazel got down on her hands and knees and charged into the tunnel. Lucas went in behind her, and then LeAnn decided not to be the pussycat and try too, Mike said he'd go with them and they crawled along. "Hey Dad, it feels like a concert tunnel and there's little hole every so often for light and people are walking on top of us and they don't even know it!"

"Yeah, that's cool." Mike said. The tunnel made a 45-degree angle turn and the tube was a bit smaller, but they made it. "Wow, that was close." He said when they emerged.

"Didn't think you were going to make it, Dad, it was small."

"Obviously being tall, trim and thin counts for something, right?" He looked down at her.

"Right." She sighed. "I'm warm, can I take my sweatshirt off."

"Yeah, go ahead." Mike decided to take his gray Gander Mnt. sweatshirt off too, Hazel's was a hooded gray Old Navy sweatshirt, she wore straight leg jeans, two-two tennis shoes, a short-sleeved hunter camouflaged tee with pink binding around the sleeves and neckline and a pink graphic on the chest said, "Mossy Oaks" and her hair was pulled back in a pony with a thin headband.

"What time is it, do you know?" Melinda Miller asked Mike.

He looked at his watch. "Almost eleven, we should head to the meeting area." He threw Hazel on his back and carried their sweatshirts to the truck, tossed them inside and then grabbed the cooler with their food in it.

As everyone sat around eating lunch they shot the cannon and it hit this one-barrel, then they flung the pumpkin catapult and the pumpkin flew through the air and splattered on a sand bar in the middle of the river!

"That was awesome!" Hazel said with a bright smile.

When they decided to go later that afternoon Hazel couldn't stop talking about what she liked about History Fest and Mike kept smiling, finally he looked over at her, "did you have fun today, pal?"

"Are you kidding? That was totally awesome!"

"Good, I had fun too."

"I'm worried about next weekend though, it's the regional qualifying meet and I stuck my landing just that one time and I've gone right back to falling again, I'm afraid I'll fall at the meet and then I won't make it." Hazel said.

"Hazel, not all the time a gymnast reaches the fantasy of the dreams, sometimes they have to end their dreams and continue doing something easier." Mike said knowingly.

"But being a competitive gymnast is what almost every gymnast dreams of becoming, some like that gymnastics with the hoops, ribbons, clubs and balls, but I would really like to become a competitive gymnast, I like competing, sometimes Coach Ellen will let us play little games where we get to compete against each other. It's really fun, I love it, Dad!"

"But if you push yourself too hard to reach those dreams, you'll never achieve."

"You sound like Coach Ellen." Hazel sat back in sort of a pouting way.

"Did you ever think that she's right?" He asked.

No, she never did. "Dad, did Grandpa tell you I never got my history homework done?"

"No, he didn't. Why didn't you do it?"

"I don't understand what the story's about, Dad! It doesn't make sense!"

"This has been going on for two weeks already." Mike said as he parked the truck.

"I'm sorry, but I don't understand what the book is saying."

"Tell you what, Monday is your next day of school and I'm off duty, you and I will do your history together, maybe I can help you figure out your problem."

"At least it won't be a mountain of homework anymore." Hazel agreed as they headed into the house.

"Dad, we're home!" Mike called as they entered the front door and slipped their shoes off. "I smell meatloaf, he's gotta be in here."

Charles appeared in the archway that led from the living room into the kitchen. "You're back, I didn't expect you guys till later again."

"Oh, we saw everything, went through the tunnel at least ten times and tried everything, right pal?"

"Yup." Hazel agreed.

"Hank called while you were gone, I said you'd call him back." Charles said to Mike.

"Sure. Pal, why don't you go on upstairs to finish the rest of your homework?"

"Supper's done, Michael if you two want to eat."

"If you're going to twist our legs, alright." Mike said and they sat at the table. After a supper of delicious meatloaf Hazel went upstairs and Mike called Hank back.

Upstairs in her room Hazel turned her desk lamp on and closed her curtains for the day provided no more light and there were no stars to shine in her window either. Dressing in a gray sporty top with white-cropped raglan sleeves and an ombré graphic at the chest, matching purple pants with an allover starry ribbon print, embroidered slippers keep her toes toasty.

Hazel was doing her homework when Mike entered. "Dad, what did Cap want?" She sat her pencil aside and looked up.

Mike nodded to her bed and she knew it had to be eight-thirty. Climbing up into her nest Mike pulled the covers up on her. "We decided on a camping trip for next weekend. Friday, Saturday and Sunday."

"But Saturday is the regional qualifying meet and I have to go, Dad! If I don't go I may not have a chance next year and then I'll never be a competitive gymnast." Hazel got worked up.

"Calm down." Mike said softly and pushed a hand on her shoulder until she lay back down. "If it means this much to you then we'll leave after the meet Saturday, deal?"

"Deal." Hazel said with a smiled.

"Good." Mike raised his hand if front of her. "FFF?" He asked for their motto.

"Faith Family Friends." Hazel said and completed the handshake.

"Okay, goodnight, sleep tight and sweet dreams." Mike kissed her forehead and turned out the light.

**EMERGENCY!**

Another Author's Note: History Fest is a real event, to learn more about it visit historyfest {dot} com.


	4. Chapter 4

~ What If ~

By: HazelEyes51

DISCLAIMER: I do not own _Emergency_ or its characters; Hazel is my own creation and cannot be used without authorial permission. Also, no profit is made in these writings.

EMERGENCY!

The days seem to pass quickly and every single day Hazel practiced for the qualifying meet whenever she could. After practice one day Charles picked her up and they had to run errands, they ran into Mrs. Stanley and the kids at Wal-Mart, Jade, Lana, Kevin, Meghan, John, Emma and Ana were glad to see them and Ana really like Hazel "dress" which was actually a pale blue stretch-velour leotard, decorated with sequins at the neckline and cutout details on the back, a matching velour skirt with a sequined waistband adds sparkle when she's running around without time to change!

Then they decided to go to Cash-Wise for groceries since it was just down the hill and there they ran into Marco's sister, then as they were leaving they met Joanne and the kids in the parking lot!

"Boy, we're just seeing everyone today!" Hazel said as they got in the gray Chevrolet Blazer.

"Yup."

"Grandpa, could we stop by the station and see Dad, please?" She asked as they backed out of the stall.

"I suppose, we don't have anything that needs immediate refrigeration." Charles said and they headed to 8th North and Broadway. They parked alongside the side street and Hazel darted towards the door. "What up ya little fireball!" Charles called but she had already made it to the door.

"Oh jeez! Come on, something like never happens." Johnny rejected. "Psh, Chet, you got your facts all mixed up!"

"What's there to deny, Gage? I seen it on TV!" Chet retorted.

"On TV? Then you should know it's fake!"

The sound of feet bounding up the stairs and a man's voice calling "wait up" caught all the guys' attention and then a smiling, giggling Hazel appeared at the top of the stairs. "Dad!"

"Hey pal!" Mike stumbled back a step when his daughter jumped into his arms. "Just come from practice?" He eyed her outfit.

"Nope, we ran a few errands and then came by for a visit."

Charles appeared at the stairs as Mike set her down. "Hey Dad."

"Michael." He appeared breathless.

Mike looked down at Hazel. "Are you running Grandpa ragged?"

She shook her head, and then turned to the guys. "Hi Roy, Johnny, Marco…" she turned to one and put her hands on her hips. "Hi Chet, you better not say it today." She warned.

Flashing Hazel a smile the Irishman took the bait. "Hi Missy Mike!"

"Kelly!" She yelled.

"Hazel, tone it down." Mike said.

"Dad, the old routine is going to start again, can I end it now?" She turned and looked at him. Mike glanced to the hallway where Stanley was approaching; he looked back at her waiting eyes and smiled.

"Go on."

"I'll prove it to you!" She said she headed down the stairs.

"What's going on here?" Stanley asked looking up from the papers in his hand.

"What's she going to do?" Marco asked.

"You guys are gonna wanna come over here." Mike said as he looked down the fire pole.

"I'm stumped, fill us in." Johnny said as all the guys, including Charles gathered around the fire pole.

Mike stood back from the pole and smiled and his arms crossed. "The past few times we've gotten together Chet and Hazel have gotten into a debate and you know Hazel hates being called Missy Mike, she told Chet she could climb up the fire pole in ten seconds, he dared her to it the next time she came to visit the station." He looked down again and saw Hazel standing there.

"Ready Dad?" She asked.

Mike looked at his watch. "Go!" He called back.

Hazel jumped and hugged the pole and she began pulling herself up just like she were on a rope, she made it to the top in no time and stood on the floor, "done." She said.

Mike laughed. "Chet you lost the dare, she made it up here in eight seconds."

Hazel beamed proudly and the other guys laughed as the dissolved away to where they wanted to go, Chet rubbed the back of his neck and humbly looked at the child, "okay, you won. No more Missy Mike."

"Thank you."

"But your parents don't know their history." He said quickly.

"Huh?" She looked at him confused.

"HMS doesn't stand for Hazel McKenzie Stoker, it stands for His Majesty's Ship."

"Chet Kelly, you are impossible!" Hazel complained and Mike shook his head, it was a constant battle between his stubborn, spirited girl and Chet who was a natural born troublemaker!

"Okay Pumpkin, we should get those groceries home and you still have history to do." Charles said.

"Yuck," Hazel muttered quietly.

"Hazel,"

She looked up at her dad.

Mike knelt to be level with his daughter. "I know you've been having a hard time with your history, so tomorrow I promise to help you with your schoolwork, okay? But do what you can that you understand today, alright?"

"Yes Dad." Hazel smiled and hugged her father, Mike returned the hug with a small smile, and then Hazel said good-bye to the guys and Charles and Hazel left.

It was a quiet car ride home and Hazel helped her grandfather bring in the groceries, then she sat down at the kitchen table to do her schoolwork while Charles put away the groceries.

Sitting at the table, with a blank sheet of notebook paper waiting to be filled with words and a pencil in her left hand Hazel tried to concentrate on her history lesson that had remained unfinished for nearly the past month!

But yet again, as before nothing was making scene, closing her history book and notebook Hazel put her pencil away and picked up her gray, 1-inch, 3-ring binder adorned in stickers. She opened the cover and flipped to the tab that said "History" and looked over her history assignments and completed projects from before, why had that been so easy and this was hard?

A million questions could run through a child's mind and yet they remain unanswered which drove Hazel nuts sometimes, but like her dad, her temper was rarely shown unless extremely ticked, like the previous episode with Chet Kelly. For some reason that guy bugged Hazel, she had never gotten along with him, even if he wasn't joking around, she never liked him.

"Are you done, Pumpkin?"

"Yes, Grandpa." Hazel responded as she put her books on the bookshelf displayed in the corner of that area of the kitchen.

"Then let's get started on the yard."

They went outside and raked up all the leaves, then Charles mowed the grass while Hazel straightened up the stuff they kept on the concert patio and she found a basketball and shot a few hoops while waiting for Charles to finished.

After stashing the ball in the shed, its proper home they entered the garage and Hazel looked around the large workshop. "Whoa," she seldom came in the workshop and now she was sort glad she didn't come in. "Where do we start?" She looked up at Charles.

"Well," he sighed and looked around, "I don't rightly know. I guess we'll start by picking up all the junk on the floor, then we'll sweep up all this muck and then we'll get to organizing."

"Sounds good." Hazel said and was ready to get down and dirty.

Down and dirty was how the job went, by time they finished picking up everything from the floor and sweeping they were none the less painted with grime, Charles was organizing all the wood they owned and Hazel was straightening up one of the many shelves, she finished putting all the nuts, bolts and washers she found all over the place in the organizer tub and as she was reaching up to put it on the shelf she bumped something with her elbow and _crack!_

"Ow!" Hazel yelled as she landed on her bum.

"Hazel, you alright?" Charles stood and came over to her. "What happened?" He knelt next to her.

"I was putting the organizer on the shelf and I accidentally knocked the brick down, it landed on my foot and I fell because it caught me off guard and it hurts." Hazel, surprisingly, hadn't shed a tear, nor was there any evidence of extreme pain in her voice.

"Let me see." Charles gently lifted the concert brick off her foot. "Well for one thing, I know it's warm in here with the wood stove and such, but you should never be in a workshop barefoot, even flip-flops wouldn't be an option, you should always wear shoes that have enclosed toes."

"I'm sorry, Grandpa." Hazel said with fear that she was in deep trouble.

"It's okay, but by the looks of that foot I say we go see our friends at the hospital." Charles said.

"Okay." Hazel agreed, Charles picked her up and carried her to the Blazer and they were off to the Emergency room ASAP!

Upon their arrival Nurse Dixie McCall looked up from the waiting area where she was giving news to someone and she came over. "Mr. Stoker, Hazel, what's the trouble?"

"She dropped a brick on her foot, I think it may be broken." Charles said.

"Which one?"

"The right." Hazel said with a small quiver. "Can you get it to stop hurting, Ms. McCall?"

"How does it hurt?"

"A burning, throbbing feeling."

"I'll be right back." She went through two swinging doors and came back with Dr. Kelly Brackett and Dr. Joe Early. Dixie told Charles he could wait in the waiting area while they took an x-ray of Hazel's foot and did an examination.

Dixie cam out sometime later and found the grandfather in the waiting area. "Charles, you can see Hazel now if you like."

"Oh, please." Charles stood and followed her. In the treatment room Dr. Brackett was checking over Hazel's cast and Dr. Early was looking at her chart.

She looked up. "Grandpa,"

"Hey, how are you?" He asked.

"Better." Hazel responded.

Charles looked at Dr. Brackett. "How bad is it?"

"Well she clearly broke her foot, but when she fell she also sprained her ankle from the action. But considering the condition of the break I say she'll be in a cast for two to three month at the most. The maximum is normally eight weeks, but I'm thinking a bit longer with her foot."

"Two to three months?" Hazel repeated. "I'll miss the qualifying meet this weekend and Dad will be mad at me for this, it's all my fault."

"No he won't." Charles bud in. "He'll know it was an accident."

"You don't understand, Grandpa."

"Hazel," he stopped her. "It's not the end of the world, it's only a broken foot, and it's not like one of us is dying."

**EMERGENCY!**

"Dad! Hazel! I'm home!"

_Bark! Bark!_

"Hi Napoleon." Mike said to the dog as he took off his shoes, walking into the kitchen Charles was unloading the dishwasher. "Hey Dad."

The elder man looked up. "Oh, hey Michael."

"Where's pal?" Mike asked.

"She's upstairs, she said she was going to put her hair up."

"Has she gotten any of her history done?"

Charles stopped and looked at him. "What do you think?" he asked and resumed, Mike shook his head, he couldn't figure out what the problem was.

Taking the step up to the hallway leading to his bedroom he went to toss in his duffle bag, when he came back out Hazel was crossing the kitchen, with her foot in a fleece lined plastic gray cast and she was hobbling on royal blue crutches.

"What's going on?" He asked right away.

Hazel, with her long hair in a ponytail, wearing dark pink stretch knit pants and gray t-shirt looked up at him with fear, and then she looked at her grandpa for support.

"When we were cleaning out the garage yesterday, a brick fell and landed on Hazel's barefoot, she broke a bone and sprained her ankle." Charles explained.

"It was an accident, Dad. Please don't be mad." Hazel said frightfully.

"I'm not mad, I understand it was an accident." Mike said.

Hazel undoubtedly breathed a sigh of relief and sat at the table. Mike remembered he said he'd help her with her history. Getting out the books they needed, Mike sat down to help her; Charles said he would take Neo out for his afternoon potty-break-walk-time. "Okay, read this section out loud to me, then I'm going to ask you a couple of questions."

"Okay." Hazel looked down at the book and began reading, soon the words were drifting away from her and they all seemed to slur together, she paused and then continued reading, she was really good at reading and could articulate her words well, by time she finished Hazel felt like she had been reading for a million years.

"Good, you read out loud well. Now, answer the questions, what happened at Gettysburg?" Mike asked.

"Um…someone wanted to go to this one place and do something and somebody didn't like that?" She guessed.

Mike shook his head. "The South wanted to capture the capital and they met up with Northern soldiers. A battle started and it would test the faith of the Confederates."

"Oh," Hazel looked down at the book, "I don't remember it saying that." She muttered under her breath.

"Okay, here's another question. How many men died at the battle of Gettysburg?"

"Uh, fifty…hundred?"

"Wrong, it was fifty-thousand."

"Right, I remember now."

Mike looked at her briefly then back at the teacher's book. "Okay, answer me this. What was the Civil War all about?"

"The president. The South didn't like Abraham Lincoln and the North did."

Mike bit his tongue to keep from laughing and fought to keep a smile off his face. Clearing his throat he looked at Hazel, who looked like she was facing a giant and she felt small in his shadow. "Hazel, I'm not angry, you never have to fear, pal. But, to tell you the correct answer, the Civil War was between the North and South about the government basically. The North believed we should all be ruled under one government and one man, the president. The South believed the states should govern themselves and be separate, it wasn't about slavery like everyone says because most of the North had slaves too."

"If the South had won, I believe America would be better off." Mike continued. "You give the man the title president and right away he thinks he's God…I, I don't think that's very great. Sure, we've had some good president and ones that I support would be George Washington, Andrew Jackson, John F. Kennedy and one more, but I don't know his name right off hand."

"Oh," Hazel looked down defeated.

"Hazel, look at me." Mike said gently.

She raised her eyes to meet his and she saw kindness and compassion.

"I know what you're struggling with and I know how to fix it."

"What is it?" Hazel asked curiously.

"Reading comprehension."

"What's that?"

"Well," Mike paused and thought on how he could describe it. "You know how to read, and you read well, but you're not understanding what you're reading, you can't keep concentration, but I know how to fix it. Let's go back 25 years…"

"Dad," Hazel budged in. "Twenty-five years ago you would've been nine and in fourth grade."

"Exactly! Sharp math." Mike smiled and then resumed the story, "anyways, when I was your age I had trouble with reading comprehension and you grandpa had to help me with my comprehension and at first I felt like a baby, but then I realized that unless I started with the basics, I'd never achieve my reading skills and I'd fail at school. So, do you think you're ready to try some of those methods?"

"I suppose."

"Good." Said Mike. "Let's go, put your shoes – er – shoe on."

"Where are we going?" Hazel asked getting up.

"You'll see." Mike said and tore out a paper from her notebook, he scribbled on it and stuck it on the bar counter and then pulled his shoes on too; they headed out to the truck and drove off.

The pulled into New Ulm Public Library parking lot and parked, Mike and Hazel went into the library and went up to the kids section, instead of going to the left where the junior reading books where, they went to the children's reading books, they picked out some, sat down and read them, as they went along, Mike told Hazel to imagine as she read that the book was a movie in her mind and the words were like the character's actions.

She had to read five books before she started catching on, and for the next hour and a half they read picture books, then they moved up to first reader books and then they were back to level one, they had to take it slow with the books.

"Should we check some out?" He asked Hazel.

"Or we could just come back tomorrow."

"That works too, but about when I work Thursday?" Mike asked her.

She looked around trying to find an answer. "Okay, maybe we'll check some out then."

"Which ones?" He asked, they went threw them together and by time they sorted out them they ended up with _Namu_ by National Graphics, _Bob_ by Tracey Campbell Pearson, _God Loves Me More Than That_ by Dandi Daley Mackall and _Officer Buckle and Gloria_ by Peggy Rathmann.

They were all picture books and made Hazel laugh! Especially _Bob_, that was the best…in her opinion, the first time they read it though, even Mike laughed at the story.

They were off to a good start and Mike believed she'd get it, he could see her following the path he had at that age and he prayed it would work.

**EMERGENCY!**

More to come! I'm surprised with the busyness going on around here I've found time to write what I can!


	5. Chapter 5

~ What If ~

By: HazelEyes51

DISCLAIMER: I do not own _Emergency_ or its characters; Hazel is my own creation and cannot be used without authorial permission. Also, no profit is made in these writings.

EMERGENCY!

On Thursday Mike called Coach Ellen to tell her about Hazel's injury and how she'd miss the regional qualifying meet. Since she couldn't compete Hazel told her dad they could leave Friday for the camping trip, but Mike shook his head. "Not gonna happen, pal."

Hazel cocked her head to the side. "Why not?"

"Not with a cast and crutches, believe me. You'll be miserable if we go." Mike answered as he did the remaining dishes that wouldn't fit in the dishwasher.

"Aw! I was really looking forward to camping!" Hazel complained.

"I'm sorry pal, but I already told Cap we weren't coming."

Sitting at the table, trying to do her schoolwork, she gave a sputtered sigh. "Dad?" Hazel asked looking up at him.

"Hmm?"

"Have you ever broken a bone or sprained a joint?"

"Plenty of times." Mike answered.

"How many times?"

Mike stopped momentarily and looked at her. "Why are you so full of questions today?"

"And you tell me not to change the subject."

"Hazel," Mike resumed washing dishes. "Do you schoolwork."

That lasted five minutes. "Tell me about the kind of injuries you sustained."

Mike sighed; she wasn't going to give up, that he knew. Giving up was something you never heard a Stoker do. "Well, in sixth grade I was an idiot. I got a hairline fracture on my tibia and I was in a cast for eight weeks, and on crutches."

"Uh-huh?" Hazel was engrossed to his story, she forgot about her schoolwork.

"All was fine until my first day at school with the crutches and at this time the Middle School was still up and running, not closed like it is now. You know that when you go down the stairs on crutches you tuck both under one arm and hang on the rail with the other," Hazel nodded, that was one of the important things the doctor told her, "well, I thought 'cool, first day at school at with crutches,' so I decided to go down the stairs regularly as if I were going up them, it was fine for the first two stairs, then I swung out too far and thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud! I went sliding down those stairs and I landed on my back at the bottom, one crutch on top of me, the other a few feet away and I laid there for a moment because that hurt."

Hazel laughed. "Oh Dad, you're such a goof!"

"Yeah I know, I also fell and sprained my wrist when I was twelve, on my birthday because I was trying to run down the slide." Said Mike.

"Are those the only injuries you ever got?" Hazel asked with more curiosity.

"Yup." Mike drained the sink and dried his hands. "I haven't really been injured on the job, because we don't get many calls the way it is and they're not too dangerous." He came and sat at the table and picked up one of the picture books. "How 'bout we practice more reading?"

Hazel sighed, it was really hard and frustrating that she wasn't comprehending what she was reading, Mike told her to visualize the story in her mind, to pretend it was a movie and the words were the actions the characters were making.

After an hour or so Mike suggested a break. "Hey pal, whadda say we take a break? We can practice more reading later." Truth be told he was getting bored of reading the picture books over and over with her, he basically had the stories memorized.

"Okay." Hazel closed _God Loves Me More Than That_ and sat it on top of the other books and got up, she went upstairs to her room and hung out doing stuff up there, Mike straightened up the hose a bit, it was pretty quiet around without his dad home, Charles had gone fishing with one of his friends.

Neo barked and stood by the front down, he whined and Mike looked up at him. "Hey pal!" Mike called upstairs.

"Yeah?"

"I think Neo needs to go to the bathroom, I'm going to take him out, I'll be right back."

"Okay."

"Don't answer the phone or door until I come back." He commanded.

"I never do." She responded.

"Come on boy, let's go." Mike hooked the dog up to his leash and took him outside.

**EMERGENCY!**

The next morning Hazel was having a fun time trying to dress in jeans and she couldn't get her cast foot through her pant legs and she was becoming ticked. "Ugh!" She groaned angrily through clenched teeth, "come on!"

A knocked sound on her bedroom door, "Hazel, do you need some help in here?" He dad asked. She looked up startled, plopped down on her tie-dye print cloth oversized beanbag chair and grabbed a light purple fuzzy pillow just as her dad came through the door.

Mike scanned her; she was still in her pajama top, a pillow on her lap and jeans around her ankles. He chuckled. "Can't get your jeans on?"

Hazel shook her head.

"Luckily for you it's going to be nice outside. He went over to her clothes bins and picked out an outfit, a pair of socks, he pulled them apart and laid one on the top of her shelves, went to her closet and grabbed one shoe. "Here, wear this." He put the outfit on the beanbag cushion by her, winked with a smile, exited her room and closed the door and she heard him descend downstairs.

Hazel kicked off her jeans, pulled on the bottoms her dad picked out, then she returned her bottom to the plump pillow seat and pulled her pajama shirt off, grabbed her training bra to put on before her shirt, she pulled on the lone sock and shoes and tied it. She did her hair in messy fishtail braids and as she was doggie flapping – that's what she called her walk, she said she moved like the flap on a doggie-door – her way to the door, she paused, looked at her reflection in the mirror.

She wore a tie-dye print tee with a bold flower graphic, cotton twill shorts. A cozy yellow sock and lace-up hiking boot to keep her foot comfy and protected, a hooded jacket that zips up and has pockets, side tab details, and an embroidered leaf on the front. On the pegs on the wall she grabbed her chunky-knit gray newsboy cap and pulled it on, then she exited her room and faced the stairs.

Remembering her dad's story and what the doctor told her, Hazel tucked both crutches under her right arm, grabbed onto the railing with her left and took it slowly on the steep, wooden staircase that turned near the bottom which was the pantry. Then there was a step down and she was in the kitchen.

"Dad, why'd you pick out a hiking boot?" Hazel asked leaning her crutches against the wall next to the sliding glass doors and then she used the back of the chairs to help her to the first of the three bar stools and climbed up.

"Because," Mike said slowly, placing a glass of milk on the counter for her then he turned to the other side of the counter to the stove and stirred whatever was in the small pot and then looked at her again. "I checked emails yesterday and Miss Gina sent out a email saying some of the homeschoolers are going on a nature walk with a park ranger at Flandrau today, I thought we'd go, how's that?"

"On what terms?"

"To make up for camping?" Mike offered.

Hazel considered it with a sip of milk. "Sounds fair."

"Good."

The morning went on like normal, they ate breakfast, did school and then packed a lunch and left earlier for the park, they went into the state park and parked in the parking lot, a park ranger was nearby as Mike and Hazel got out of the truck and headed for a picnic table.

"Do you think that's the park ranger?" Hazel asked as she leaned her crutches against the end of the table and sat down.

"Probably." Mike sat sitting down and handed her a PBJ sandwich that they made. "You know, if you have any trouble keeping up with the group, I can always give you backpack ride."

"Dad, they call it horsie-back ride."

"My whole life I've known it as backpack, Little Miss Smarty Pants." Mike countered in a teasing way, causing Hazel to laugh. "And you have jelly on the corner of your mouth."

Hazel wiped it off and glanced to her left as the park ranger started walking to a dark green truck, after their lunch more families began arriving and the park ranger joined them, he introduced himself as Scotty and Hazel was hobbling around, explaining to her friends what happened when they asked, she was having a bit of trouble trying to move as fast as her brain wanted, mainly because she was excited and stuff, Mike noticed it and when they were going to start the walk Mike grabbed Hazel's arm.

"What did I do?" She asked as if she were in trouble.

"Come over to the truck." Over at the truck Mike took her crutches and put them inside, he knelt down with his back to her. "Hop on."

Hazel briefly smiled and got on his back. For the whole nature walk Hazel rode Mike's back in the backpack style, it was fun and Hazel enjoyed being somewhere than home practicing reading. It was actually kind of good that Mike carried her in some parts, there were stairs they needed to climb, a hill they went down and when they went down by the river the sand was really soft that Hazel would've never been able to hobble along on her crutches.

During the nature walk Scotty talked to them about tree, plants and animals, he showed them a squirrel's hide, a raccoon hide and a skunk's hide as well!

After the nature walk when she was back on her crutches Mike looked at her. "How'd you like that?"

"It was fun, but you didn't hafta carry me the whole time."

"Hey now, don't ruin it for me. I haven't been able to do that since you were little." He smiled.

Hazel returned it with a laugh. "Oh Dad, you're funny!"

Miss Gina was waving Mike over towards her and the moms and Hazel saw some of her friends gathered at a picnic table, she went over to them and leaned on her crutches for support, they talked about a few things, then she mentioned her broken foot again.

"Aren't you a gymnast?" Micah Sloot asked, Hazel nodded, "how you going to stay in shape if you can't use your foot?"

"I can still go to practice and do stretches with the team and the only equipment I can use with my coach helping me as a spotter is the uneven bars."

"What kind of gymnastics do you do?" Kayla Rysdahl asked.

"Artistic Gymnastic." Answered the other child.

"Is it fun?" Kayla asked.

Hazel shook her head. "It's been a lot of pressure lately, I'd rather do it for fun, not to compete, but I'm not sure what my dad will say if I ask to drop off the competitive team."

"It never hurts to ask." Dominick Compose said and Hazel nodded, but she still wasn't sure.

"Hey pal!" Mike called. Hazel looked up. "You ready to go?" He asked, she nodded and looked back at her friends.

"Bye guys, I'll see you later." Then she hobbled away.

In the truck Hazel buckled up and watched out the window as Mike had to take the winding road to get out of the park and turn to go home. He noticed her silence and asked a question, "what's the matter, pal?"

"I was just thinking about the qualifying meet and how I'm gonna hafta miss it because of my foot."

"You really wanted to go, didn't you?" Mike more or less said than asked it.

"No, not exactly."

"What are you talking about?" Mike looked at Hazel. "You talked about it all the time and I thought you really couldn't wait for the day to come."

"I did, but I didn't want the day to come." Hazel looked at her father.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Mike stopped at the corner, looked both ways before continuing on the road. "I thought making the regional competitive team was what you wanted your whole life."

"And I thought making the team was what _you_ wanted of me my whole life."

Mike nearly slammed on the brakes at that comment. He did stop though; he had to make a U-turn to park alongside the curb in front of their house, turned off the engine and looked at Hazel. "What?" He asked.

"Ever since I started gymnastics you talked about the regional qualifying meet and how I could become a competitive gymnast, I thought you wanted me to do that because that's what you liked and wanted." Hazel said.

"No. I just want you to be happy. Does doing gymnastics make you happy?"

"Yes." Hazel nodded. "I love Artistic Gymnastics, but I don't want to be a competitor."

"Then I'll tell Coach Ellen Monday at practice." Mike smiled. "If doing gymnastics for fun makes you happy, then doing gymnastics for fun is what you'll do."

Hazel held her breath, "you mean it?"

Mike's face softened and he smiled. "I mean it." He held up his hand. "FFF?"

Hazel breathed relief, "Faith Family Friends." She completed the handshake and smiled. "Thanks Dad!" She crawled across the bench and hugged her dad.

Mike laughed. "You're welcome, come on, pal. Let's go inside."

"Dad," Hazel sat back.

"Yes?"

"Do you think we could go tomorrow to the qualifying meet? I know it would mean a lot to Josie for me to be there even if I can't compete with her."

Another smiled came to Stoker's face. "Sure Zee, we can go."

**EMERGENCY!**

A/N: Boy! I tell you guys, this chapter was a bear to write! I got stuck so many times, I had rewrite at lest three times and Mike and Hazel's conversation about gymnastics was tough too! But more is coming! Hopefully the next chapter or chapter after we'll see the guys and their families together again! I'm also planning my next E fic for the web after this story and I'm thinking of doing it in modern times again and it will probably be set in L.A. though because we don't get much action here in our small little town and the story will be centered around the Stoker for all those Stoker fans!


	6. Chapter 6

~ What If ~

By: HazelEyes51

DISCLAIMER: I do not own _Emergency_ or its characters; Hazel is my own creation and cannot be used without authorial permission. Also, no profit is made in these writings.

EMERGENCY!

After supper Friday night the Stoker's decided to bum out, Mike and Charles both wore flannel pants with t-shirts, Hazel wore her gray top with white raglan sleeves and purple pants. Those along with the American Girl, Girl of the Year, McKenna's dress and leggings and her two books were a gift from her dad and granddad for her birthday in March.

Her dad had been leery about the movie, so they rented it from Family Video and Hazel asked to watch it. "I suppose." Mike said from one of the rocking chairs in the living room straight across from the TV caddy thing next to the archway. Hazel put it in and climbed up on his lap, afterwards they shut down the whole works.

"Well, some of the things that happened in the movie are happening to us." Said Charles with a tease. "I hope they don't think we're trying to copy them."

Hazel laughed.

"I did not like that movie." Mike said.

"Why?" Asked Hazel getting off his lap, turning around and sitting on the footstool to face them, she put her elbows on her knees and propped her chin in her palms.

"Well, one, she disobeyed her coach at the demonstration, two, her mom stopped her dad when she broke her foot. That would never fly in this household, and they have no discipline, unlike us. She cheated on the quiz and lied to her friends and the girl's mom looked like the bad guy when all she wanted was for her daughter to be happy." Mike said." There are other areas I disagree with and I didn't like any of the songs in that movie either. We're not watching it again."

"I really liked the part where they went camping." Hazel said.

"That's probably the only good, clean part of the movie." Mike said.

Hazel wouldn't question her dad's authority, whatever he said goes, she knew he read the books before allowing her to, he wanted to make sure there was nothing in there going against their beliefs or that he disagreed with strongly.

She loves reading American Girl, but doesn't care for the Historical Characters much. She really likes the Girl of the Year's and owns _Nicki, Thank Nicki, Mia, Bravo Mia, Kanani, Good Job Kanani, McKenna_ and _McKenna Ready To Fly._

Some of the Stoker's favorite things to watch are _Andy Griffith show, Marcus Welby, Adam-12, Dolphin Tale_ and they really like the Kendrick Brothers Productions and own them all. All the titles are good, clean, family friendly movies with no swearing or bad images.

Charles read quietly from his Bible, Mike and Hazel practiced more on her reading, she was understanding the picture books so they went to exchange them with reader books and Hazel's struggling here and there, but she's catching on. Mike has decided to remain optimistic, they were reading one about Titanic when Mike looked at his watch, then at Hazel, she got up from the footstool and reached for her crutches leaning against the coffee table, she tottered to the archway before stopping, turning around.

"G'night Grandpa, g'night Dad, g'night Neo." Then she continued on upstairs, not every night Mike or Charles tucked her in, she was nine after all. Charles retired to his room soon after and then Mike went to bed also.

The night faded away and Saturday crept up on them. After bathing and throwing her robe on, Hazel went back up to her room and decided to wear her McKenna dress, she took it out of her closet and dressed in fresh undergarments then slipped the gray and teal sporty striped dress with flutter sleeves, a dropped waist, and a pleated skirt on over her head, she grabbed the stretchy teal leggings to match and then brushed her hair into a mid-high ponytail, grabbed a chunk from underneath the tail and wrapped it around the elastic till there was none showing and used a few bobby pins to hold the wrap in place.

Hazel grabbed a sock, pulled it and a tennis shoe on and headed downstairs for breakfast.

Mike was reaching in the cupboard for glasses when he heard a thud from behind, metal banging on hardwood and a soft "ouch!" He had the urge, but fought against it. The smile had already come to his face and he was going to lose it soon. "Are you okay, pal?" He asked with great difficulty as she walked by.

"Yeah, just fine." She went into the bathroom and Mike laughed.

"Ohh! She's so much like you, Mike." He said to himself and then Neo came in and barked at him. "You know where your dish is."

Neo sat and whined.

"What?" Mike stopped laughing and looked at the dog confused, he looked over his shoulder at the empty doggie dish and nodded. "I see." He filled it up with food and fresh water and sat it back on the towel in front of the wall. "Here you go, Napoleon."

Neo came over and began eating, Mike ran his hand from the dog's head to his back and patted him, then stood to get _their_ breakfast ready.

**EMERGENCY!**

"Next up is Nora St. Joseph on the uneven bars." The announcer said over the loud speakers.

"Uneven bars are Nora's specialty." Hazel whispered to Mike, he looked at her, she smiled and then they turned their eyes back to the floor just at Nora was beginning her routine. For her age she was very good and Hazel believed she'd earn a shot on the competitive team, and Nora earned it, she worked very hard, non-stop at being a competitive gymnast, like all the other girls on Hazel's team, Josie though really wanted to go to the Olympics and Hazel knew she'd stop at nothing to get there.

After Nora's routine a gymnast from another place went through a routine and so forth, then the announcer said, "Our last competitor is Josie Mueller for floor exercise."

Applause rose from the audience as Josie walked out on the floor mats and took her pose, waiting for the music to start, then she launched herself into her routine she was soaring like a bird, without flaw to most, but Hazel's trained eyes saw her shaking, Josie had the nerves and if she let them overpower her she'd lose concentration and blow it and then her dreams would be crushed and Josie would never be herself. She lives and breathes gymnastics and everyone who knows Josie, knows that, without gymnastics she'd be a totally different person, a sadder person most likely.

Hazel almost didn't want to watch in case Josie did screw up, but she reminded herself she came to support, not to assume the worst, and that's what her dad would've done too.

Josie posed and saluted the judges as the music ended and then she joined her teammates. Then everyone lined up as the judges were collecting their scores. It was a long paused, it was only fifteen to twenty minutes to the audience, but for the competitors it was million years.

The announcer's voice came over the loud system again. "The gymnasts to go on to the Regional Competitive team are…Nia Sowers from New Ulm Area Gymnastics Academy." Applause came and all the while Hazel knew that she and her friends at Turner Halle were holding their breath to find out who goes. Three more gymnasts from other places were called and then… "Nora St. Joseph from Turner Halle Gymnastics Program and the gymnast to take the last spot for Regionals is…Josie Mueller from Turner Halle Gymnastics Program."

The audience went to their feet to applaud all the gymnasts and it was clear to see Josie's pleasure as she and Nora practically screamed with glee! As the action died down and people began to flood around to see the gymnasts Mike and Hazel were going where the Turner Halle team was gathered when they saw, Marco, his sister Rosa, a little boy holding her hand and a man standing around Josie.

"Hazel, you came!" Josie stepped forwards and hugged her.

"Yup. I wouldn't want to miss out on the action." Hazel smiled. "Congrats on Regionals."

"Thanks." Josie smiled. "Next year we'll both be on the podium holding up medals." She said with a tease.

"No, I'm dropping off the competitive team, it's been too much stress for me and I was so occupied with going to Regionals that I didn't have enough time to focus on school and I've fallen behind on history tremendously and since my accident I realized how much I was missing out on spending time with my family. I can't do this anymore."

"So you're quitting gymnastics?" Josie asked almost disappointed.

"No, I'm still going to do Artistic Gymnastics, just not for a national competitive team." Hazel explained. "Perhaps locally with NUAGA or so, I don't really know, but I don't want to be a competitor."

"Well, I guess it won't be the same without you by my side, but there's still Nora." Josie said trying to force a smile.

"Come on, it's not like I'm moving away, we'll still be friends at gymnastics!"

"Hazel, come here for a sec." Mike called.

"I'll be right back." Hazel hobbled over towards her dad who faced Coach Ellen and a young man about Mike's age. "Yeah Dad?"

"Coach Ellen wants to tell you something."

Hazel looked at her coach. "We were sorry to hear about your injury and how you couldn't compete, but now your dad says you wants to do gymnastics for fun and not as a competitive gymnast."

Hazel nodded.

"Why on earth not?"

"It's too stressful for me, I'm busy with school and it's taken time away from being with my dad and granddad, I want to be Hazel McKenzie Stoker again, not this little girl who wants nothing but gold when she does gymnastics and believes she better than all the gymnasts who perform before her. I've been taught otherwise."

Coach Ellen smiled. "Hazel, I couldn't have given a better answer myself. We'll see you at the gym Monday for practice."

"You bet." Hazel nodded and it was a done deal, Coach Ellen and the man walked away and Mike and Hazel turned to Marco.

"What ya doing here?" Marco and Mike asked each other at the same time.

"Josie's my niece." Marco explained. "Antonio and Josie were with Mama Lopez when Rosa came with me to the Stanley's. Tony, her husband was working, his job promoted him here to NU and they're living in Sunset Apartments."

"Oh, that explains it then." Mike said and put his hands on his hips and looked down at Hazel. "I don't know about you, but I'm starved and we don't have much at home."

"Que casualidad!" (What a coincidence!) Marco exclaimed. "We went to the store to get stuff for tacos, we got tortillas, lettuce, tomatoes, hot sauce, sour cream and everything else except hamburger!"

"That we have back at our house in the fridge." Mike said. "Why could all go over to our place and whip it all together!"

"Maravilloso! Parece un buen plan!" (Wonderful! Sounds like a plan!)

"I'll take that as a yes." Mike said; he only knew English and German.

Half an hour later Hazel and Josie were sitting with Antonio at the bar counter and the five adults at the table and they were having a delicious meal, Charles had left a note saying he was going to "run errands", knowing him, he was probably visiting friends and yapping and so forth.

"Mmm, these tacos are really good, Marco." Hazel said trying to finish a bite.

"Don't talk with food in your mouth, pal." Said Mike, a moment later, added, "please."

"Yes, they are good, Uncle Marcos." Josie said with Hispanic accent that she always had.

"Garcias." Marco said.

Hazel leaned towards Josie, "how do you say 'you're welcome' in Spanish? I only know German." She whispered. Josie whispered the answer back and together they said, "Le invitamos." Then burst out laughing!

**EMERGENCY!**

A/N: It was kinda a short one this time, and I do not speak Spanish, so I relied on Google Translate for the translations, any wrong words I apologize!


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Hey everybody! Sorry it's taken this long for me to update, we've been crazy busy and recently found out I will no longer have internet soon, so I've decided to take the rest of What If and cram it into this chapter, it'll probably be long, but I didn't want to leave you all just hanging there. I'm going to miss FanFiction, but will continue to write fics for myself, family and friends to share with, wish I could with you guys, but no Internet means no FanFic. So, this is kinda like a good-bye. I've enjoyed many stories on here and am sad to be leaving.

**EMERGENCY!**

Time can fly.

Hazel and Charles finished the rest of un-finished work that was left in the workshop from when Hazel broke her foot. It was hard to believe it was going on eight weeks and Hazel had a doctor's appointment for her foot, she was nervous thinking Brackett would say it had to stay on longer, but she was also anxious to get the darn cast off and return back to a normal life.

Mike came home in a gloomy mood one morning.

"Hey Dad, what's the matter?" Hazel noticed right away.

"Hey pal, nothing."

"Dad, guess what!" Hazel was very chipper. "I finally got reading down pat! Grandpa and I were practicing a lot today and now I've been blowing through my AG books like wildfire! I understand them!"

"That's great." He said without any enthusiasm and went to his room.

"Did I hear your dad's voice?" Charles asked coming from upstairs.

"Grandpa, somethin' bugging Dad." Hazel said.

"Oh dear, we're gonna have a grouch on our hands."

"You can say that again."

Charles went to the sink to do the remaining dishes that didn't fit in the dishwasher. "So are you excited about your doctor's appointment tomorrow?"

"Yes and no." Hazel answered as she continued her school. "Yes, because I can't wait to get this cast off and no, because I'm afraid Dr. Brackett will say it'll have to be longer."

"Oh, I'm sure it won't." Charles said.

"You better be right." Hazel answered and closed her binder. "I've finished my school, can I go play now?"

"Sure." He responded and she went upstairs to her room. She had clothes sitting on her beanbag cushion to put away, so she did, then she picked up the AG book she hadn't finished and sat down to read some, she just finished the last page when Charles called upstairs.

"Pumpkin, suppertime!"

"Okay, I'm coming." Hazel grabbed her crutches and headed downstairs; at the supper table she asked her dad again what was bugging him.

Mike leaned back in his chair and sighed. "The city has decided to close the station down and return it to voluntary, why? We haven't gotten a call in a month, we haven't had tours in awhile so we're getting no support and there's no reason to keep firefighters tied up there, so they say."

"You're gonna have to find another job?" Hazel asked.

"Yes and no."

"What do you mean?" Charles asked.

"I like my job position and would love to continue it. But the only way we do that is if we move to a larger city."

"No, I don't wanna live in the cities again." Charles rejected.

"Neither do I. The guys were talking about what they're gonna do and we were thinking of all transferring to L.A."

"California?" Hazel and Charles asked bewildered.

"Yeah." Mike nodded. The other two people looked at each other and they were silent the rest of the night!

**EMERGENCY!**

At the doctor's appointment, when Brackett came back in the room after receiving Hazel's x-rays he sat down and jolted down a few notes.

"What's the verdict?" Hazel asked.

"Well, you're foot's not completely healed yet. But, we're going to get you in a walking cast and get you off crutches, how's that sound?"

"Better and better." Hazel's mood lightened and she was glad when they left that day. "Dad," She asked as they got in the truck.

"Yeah?"

"Do you ever miss Mom and Grandma?"

Mike looked over at her. "Lot's of time, pal." He turned the key in the ignition and they headed home, Hazel was the first in the house, "Grandpa! Guess what!"

"What is it, Pumpkin?" He looked up from the rocking chair.

"I got off crutches today and got a walking cast on for a little while longer."

"I told you it was going to be okay." He said with a smile.

Hazel was getting around better without her crutches, they decided to take the day off and go over to Mankato and go to the River Hills Mall and do some walking around. They spent a lot of time in Scheels, Barns N Noble, Sears, they went into American Eagle, Aeropostale, Hollister, and many, many more, they ate in the Carousel Café from some Mexican place and they left the mall and went to Gander Mnt., Old Navy, Best Buy and they went to Sam's Club before heading home somewhere around supper time.

Hazel was so tired of all the walking after her supper; she went up to her room and never came down. Mike assumed she fell asleep and would be up early, he was surprised the next morning to find out he was the first one up.

Mike showered, dressed and ate something quick for breakfast, took Neo out and across the street, across the tracks for a potty visit, then he came back and straightened up the place, he checked emails and stuff and saw a play date for the homeschool group was at Harman Park until further notice in weather change.

Hazel came downstairs dressed and started to scrounge around for breakfast. "Grandpa not up yet?" Mike asked.

"Nope."

"Odd."

"Yup." Hazel climbed up at the counter with cereal. "What's new?" She asked.

"Homeschool group might be getting together Friday, dependin' on the weather and Cap sent out an email, first warm weekend after this winter we're going camping."

"Hooray!" Hazel exclaimed. "Hey Dad, do you think that Lucas and LeAnn Miller could spend the night here sometime?"

"Don't see why not, I'll ask Mrs. Miller next time we get together." Mike answered putting the computer to sleep. "I saw a new email address on there, M-E-A-A Carter at gmail dot com, do you know who that might be?"

"Uh, no." Hazel responded.

Mike shrugged and went up to the hallway. "You wanna go wake Grandpa up?"

"Sure." Hazel got up as Mike entered the bathroom; she went upstairs, knocked on her grandfather's room and entered, "Grandpa? Dad said to wake you up." She approached the bed.

"Grandpa." She shook his shoulder. "Papa!" Then she froze.

Mike just came out of the bathroom as Hazel flew up the steps. "Dad!" She let out in panicked cry.

"What's the matter?"

"Grandpa's not waking up!"

Mike searched her eyes then dashed upstairs.

**EMERGENCY!**

Black dress, check.

Black sweater, check.

Black leggings, check.

Black sock, check.

Black shoe, check.

Hazel brushed her hair up into a high ponytail and tied it off with a black scrunchie and looked at glum expressing in the mirror. The only thing black she wasn't wearing was her cast; she walked out of her room and downstairs. She found her dad in his room, wearing all black and trying to figure out how his tie went.

Hazel stood on the trunk at the foot of his bed and did the tie for him, Charles had taught her, the silent Stoker's left the house to say a final good-bye to a loved one.

It was an emotional day and more than once the both of them needed a tissue and thick winter coats at the cemetery because it was cold out. When they finally got back home Mike yanked off his death trap of a tie and Hazel went upstairs and cried on her cushion.

Supper was reheated leftovers and just Mike and Hazel sat at the table. "What are we going to do?" Hazel asked.

"I dunno, pal. I honestly don't know." Mike responded. So much was happening, the city closed the station and his job was cut off and he was looking for a new one, his dad had died, the old ticker just gave away and now it was just him and Hazel.

When Friday came they decided to go to get their mind off stuff and they found out whom the new family was. "Coach Ellen!" Hazel said as they approached.

"Hazel, I didn't know you were part of this group!" Anna said.

"Wanna go play?" A boy asked.

"This is Aiden, my elder brother." Anna said.

"Sure." Hazel said.

"Be mindful of your foot." Mike said.

"Yes Dad." Hazel responded.

"How long have you been part of the group?" Ellen asked Stoker.

"Two years. Hazel's been homeschooled her whole life, but we joined two years ago."

"Mr. Stoker, this is my husband." Ellen said as she motion to the man behind her, it was the same one who had been with her at the qualifying meet.

The man stuck out his hand. "Mike Carter."

He laughed. "Mike Stoker." And shook the man's hand. "It's actually Michael, though."

"Not mine." Mike Carter responded, those two became great friends that day and Mr. Carter was certain he could get Stoker a job at the place he worked at.

**EMERGENCY!**

Fourteen weeks after Hazel had broke her foot she was back at the doctor's office. When Brackett came in this time he smiled. "Well young lady, you are getting rid of that cast today!"

"Hallelujah!" Hazel said joyfully.

Getting the cast of was great, he foot had freedom, and she looked at Brackett and waited for him to say something.

"Try it, see how it feels."

Hazel jumped down on her left foot and slowly put pressure on her right. "It doesn't hurt."

Brackett showed her some exercises to do to strengthen her foot and within a week Hazel's life was back to normal.

Dressed in her McKenna pajama's she came in her dad's room one night. "Hazel, you're supposed to be in bed."

"I can't sleep." She said.

Mike sighed. "Okay, but just tonight."

She snuggled in bed next to him. "A lot has happened in the past few months and I still can't believe what's happening.

"I know, wanna review the history?" Mike asked.

"Sure."

"Okay," Mike leaned back and looked ahead. "Let's see, it all started with you foot, then we had a talk about gymnastics, then I started noticing Dad was tired a lot, that should've been my first clue." They listed more things that happened and then…

"Grandpa died, Coach Ellen and her family joined the Homeschool group, and Mr. Carter said he might've been able to get you a job, but you turned it down because you want to stay with the guys. We're moving to L.A. where you guys will remain firefighters at a place called Station 51."

"It's all what if from here to there though." Mike responded and kissed the top of her head. "Just remember I love you and no matter what happens you and I will always be together. Always." He looked her in the eyes. "So, FFF?" He held out his hand for their handshake.

"FFF." Hazel completed it.

Faith.

Family.

Friends.

What a perfect combination.


End file.
